Imaginary Cities | PC Bangs

Well, after the trauma of last week I can say without a doubt that the last seven days have been much better. Here's a quick rundown of my patented seven step program for transformation from gloom and doom merchant into street-strutting writer in residence. STEP 1: Go to the zoo The photos from this highly amusing little jaunt were pretty funny (see previous post). Sure, the African animals looked out of place. Okay, the kangaroos were just lying around doing nothing. I accept also that the millions of school kids shouting "Hello!" and "Where are you going?" was a bit much to put up with. But the sight of a bear having a swim or a couple of giraffes hanging out - ah, it warms the cockles of me heart. That being said, it was difficult to decide whether the zoo was for wild animals or for the fields full of wild kids I saw during my traversal of the zoo. STEP 2: Get invited to an art exhibition I got the call from Moonsun at the Australian Embassy informing me of ...

Right now I am feeling more run-down than I have for a long time. One of my students said to me today "you look dead". There's nothing worse than being told something like that but the truth is that I don't feel well at all. It's not that I'm sick per se - I don't have any real symptoms apart from a constant headache, shaking hands, grinding teeth and a short temper. I think the reality is that I am stressed. I am having trouble sleeping, as my mind races every night with the list of things I have to do the next day. Each day then brings a new challenge or a new thing to worry about and I feel like this sometimes gets in the way of what I am supposed to be doing. Then again, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing, apart from teaching - despite the fact that it's only six hours per week, the teaching does take up a lot of time in preparation and so on; and once I have finished, I am exhausted. I was not really prepared for the mental ...

This is a picture of the Sogang University student cafeteria on a beautiful clear September day. Down below is the stadium area where people can sit and watch the football or baseball. At ground level are changerooms and music practice rooms. Pretty cool, huh?

As part of my Australian Culture course here at Sogang University (in which I now teach approximately 40 students), we spent some time learning the basics about Australia: the capital city, the system of government, what the flag and coat of arms mean and, naturally, the national anthem. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I sang the first verse of "Advance Australia Fair" a capella and pointed out that the original version of the song in fact contains six verses only two are printed on John Howard's website). I used this as an example of the way in which history in Australia seems to be "buried" deep in obscurity; a little like the phrase 'the tip of the iceberg'. I then sang both versions of "Waltzing Matilda", and related to my students that for some people, this is their preferred national anthem. This song, too, contains layers of meaning - while the song is called "Waltzing Matilda", the swagman within the song is also s...

Sometimes, in a fit of boredom, I watch movies on Korean TV. The good thing about television here is that there are very few advertisements during shows; however, the downside is that in between shows, viewers are bombarded with approximately three quarters of an hour of inane commercials. The following is a transcript of what I wrote down during one such "info-session". movie ends ... woman with yellow ball speaks to little boy ... woman with ultra-slim gadget phone intent on looking seductive ... handsome-looking man in suit and tie asks "are you gentle?" ... girl plays violin in countryside ... boy walks through city ... tie man again ... woman drinks fruit juice at home ... two girls eat pizza and win a CD! ... car in shanghai morphs into car in paris morphs into car on melbourne citylink then parked outside centre for contemporary art: "let the people sing!" ... couple play video games and drink juice ... woman sleeping in white sheets wearing white u...

The first time I saw this sign on a shopfront in Insadong I thought: mmm, borntobe chicken ... this must be a Korean specialty. Of course, it's really "born to be" chicken - and aren't we all? For the record, this shop serves delicious fried chicken and pitchers of cold beer. They usually show the baseball on the television. The women who run it are very friendly and the coleslaw is extremely sweet too. Borntobe!